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Jordan and Pirtek Racing aim to shine at Thruxton

Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan will hope to bounce back to form this weekend as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heads for Thruxton for the third round of the year.

Andrew endured a challenging weekend on home soil at Donington Park last time out, with an off-track excursion in qualifying playing a part in him picking up a single top ten finish from the second meeting of the 2016 campaign.

Whilst race day at Donington Park didn’t go entirely to plan, there were plenty of positives from the final race of the weekend after a series of radical set-up changes saw his Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus really come alive – with further progress made during a day of testing at the circuit following the meeting.

The 2013 champion will now hope to carry that pace into this weekend’s meeting at one of the most fearsome circuits in the country – and one which features the highest average speeds to be found on the BTCC calendar.

That’s something shown by the fact that Andrew’s qualifying lap record, set back in 2014, saw him complete the 2.36 miles at an average speed of more than 111mph – nearly 10mph better than the average qualifying record seen elsewhere.

In fact, in a further show of his prowess around Thruxton’s high-speed curves, half of Andrew’s BTCC pole positions have come at the Hampshire circuit, whilst he has at least one podium finish at the venue in each of the past three seasons.

“Thruxton is a circuit that I absolutely love and I’m heading there in confident mood,” he said. “Although Donington Park didn’t go to plan, we made some real progress in the final race of the weekend and have since enjoyed a really positive test, so I feel we are in a good place going into the weekend.

“I have a good record when it comes to taking pole position at Thruxton, and hopefully that is something I can maintain as I look to put some strong points on the board. I don’t have to carry any weight into the weekend, which will help in qualifying, although ballast isn’t as much of a factor at Thruxton as it can be elsewhere.

“What is more of a factor is tyre wear, and it’s important that we play the long game on race day to maximise their performance. Whilst we need to hang it all out in qualifying, the races will be all about managing the performance of the tyres to make sure you are quick from start to finish, so getting the set-up right will be key.

“The Focus is a car that I feel is good on its tyres, and with the pace we have, hopefully this is the weekend when things click.”

After qualifying on Saturday 7 May at 16.10, the first of three BTCC races will be at 12.12 on Sunday, with race two at 14.32 and race three at 17.17. All three races will be broadcast on ITV4, whilst qualifying will be broadcast live on www.itv.com. Live timing and results from the weekend will be available at www.tsl-timing.com